While I like the ability to cycle between three ikons for the magic number, the feels and the versatility, the trend is already pretty visible. The weapon ikon is king and when you inevitable have to transcend out of it, one of your other ikons is clearly better and the other just gets used once in a blue moon. Once the root epithet comes online, worn ikons usually aren't the one you pick with any regularity.
I've also felt that when adding the items to your story, three feels like one too many. It feels kinda cluttered. Heroes in stories having special weapons is normal, but they usually only have something that qualifies as either a body or a worn ikon. Here in Europe this is more often than not armor, but figures like Achilles or Siegfried (the two obvious origins of Skin Hard as Horn) are more famous for their equivalent of a body ikon.
From all of that, it is worth considering to just have two ikons. One usually for offense (weapon) and one usually for defense (body). The body ikon can feasibly just absorb the worn ikon options with a minor reframing. Those two could then even be stronger or at least broader in application, possibly with always-on passive effects. The large negative would be that cycling suddenly becomes a lot less interesting until you add more interactivity into that department. But having two "modes" would still be pretty cool.
IMO ikons could be made like kineticist's elements. You get an ikon and then you have the option to expand and empower it or to get new ones. This would give more flexibility to the class and thrown out this complicated and confuse spark system.
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I could certainly go with an initial choice between two ikons, for sure, though more broadly I dislike the way ikons and epithets were implemented, for a number of reasons:
Maybe this is just me, but I'd want to overhaul this system around the notion of giving the Exemplar only a very small number of active buffs at a time, but making those buffs much more impactful. That is: toss out the body/weapon/worn distinction, get rid of most epithets, and instead make each ikon feat its own separate ikon. You could start out having just one active ikon at a time, then two and eventually three, and each ikon could thus have a single, exceptionally strong immanence effect. It could cut down on management, but also ideally enable a greater range of choice.
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That's just a different flavor of Thaumaturge.
I'd rather get three picks, which can be ikons or epithets, then mix and match how I see fit (except probably not more than one of an ikon type)
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Having played an npc that only used two ikons (I basically took an npc statblock and removed two abilities and replaced them with the ikons; I couldn't find a block that three abilities) as a villain, I can safely say that while still powerful, it made for a very repetitive play loop. I think the third ikon adds a lot of value in terms of options and keeping things fresh; and I'm rather found of the paradigm where the ikons essential make a "support mode", "attack mode" and "defense mode" that you flip between.
My monster only had a body and weapon ikon, so he basically constantly cycled between offense and defense; or, towards the end of the battle, since the party put a lot of press on him, he kept using shift immanence so he could repeatedly use his body ikon to self heal and then do a single strike. It was fun, but if that was my gameplay for a dedicated PC, I would get bored without being able to mix things up, and the third ikon lets me do that
Having played an npc that only used two ikons (I basically took an npc statblock and removed two abilities and replaced them with the ikons; I couldn't find a block that three abilities) as a villain, I can safely say that while still powerful, it made for a very repetitive play loop. I think the third ikon adds a lot of value in terms of options and keeping things fresh; and I'm rather found of the paradigm where the ikons essential make a "support mode", "attack mode" and "defense mode" that you flip between.
My monster only had a body and weapon ikon, so he basically constantly cycled between offense and defense; or, towards the end of the battle, since the party put a lot of press on him, he kept using shift immanence so he could repeatedly use his body ikon to self heal and then do a single strike. It was fun, but if that was my gameplay for a dedicated PC, I would get bored without being able to mix things up, and the third ikon lets me do that
That is pretty much my main fear as well. The problem is that right now that is exactly what happens anyway, just because there is only 1 good choice most of the time. So it's more the illusion of choice atm, I hope they fix that. If they don't, we might as well only have 2 ikons.
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That is pretty much my main fear as well. The problem is that right now that is exactly what happens anyway, just because there is only 1 good choice most of the time. So it's more the illusion of choice atm, I hope they fix that. If they don't, we might as well only have 2 ikons.
Tbh, while I know that people talk about worn ikons being weak, I feel the issue would be solved for most if they just doubled the range. Moving your allies pr enemies is a pretty potent tool that isn't even especially situational as to when it comes in handy, and the first save targeting of the forced movement targets the types of enemies you actually really want to relocate's weakest save.
Victor's wreath definately does have a situational transcend, and I wish that it had a more universally applicable benefit, and making the condition clearing thing a low level feat